


has never seen a soldier quite like me

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: adrien augreste 2020 [21]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien AUGreste 2020, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Angst and Feels, Families of Choice, Found Family, Gen, Jealous Plagg, Kwami & Miraculous Lore, Parent Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Podfic Welcome, Protective Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), bugaboy, kwami angst, so does PLAGG, this is like the only way i'll ever write jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26037169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: "Kid, I'm startin' to want to accuse you of narcissism, but that'd require you to have better self-esteem.  Any self-esteem."  Plagg watches with a curiosity he won't admit to as Adrien rewinds the fight yet again.  It's been weeks but Plagg doesn't mind watching again himself.Even with their Miraculous swapped, his and Tikki's kids both did good.  Plagg isn't about to admit to the swell of pride he's got about that, either."I'm not watching myself, Plagg," Adrien says calmly, pausing the video for what might be the hundredth time, and then grinning at it in a way that-That's a little less love struck than Plagg's come to expect, actually.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg
Series: adrien augreste 2020 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860751
Comments: 68
Kudos: 479





	has never seen a soldier quite like me

**Author's Note:**

> for the bugaboy prompt for adrienaugreste, and because once again i am behind and i think time may currently be broken this kinda... became a stream-of-consciousness thing that got, uh, away from me? a bit? just a BIT 
> 
> i _love_ plagg

"Kid, I'm startin' to want to accuse you of narcissism, but that'd require you to have better self-esteem. Any self-esteem." Plagg watches with a curiosity he won't admit to as Adrien rewinds the fight yet again. It's been _weeks_ but Plagg doesn't mind watching again himself. 

Even with their Miraculous swapped, his and Tikki's kids both did _good._ Plagg isn't about to admit to the swell of pride he's got about that, either. 

"I'm not watching myself, Plagg," Adrien says calmly, pausing the video for what might be the hundredth time, and then grinning at it in a way that-

That's a little less love struck than Plagg's come to expect, actually. 

Despite himself, Plagg drifts closer, settling on the top of the kid's head so that he can lean in and watch for himself as Adrien hits play again. 

Tikki or Marinette would probably be watching this with a critical eye. Hell, they probably _have_ watched it with a critical eye, taking note of where they worked well around adjusting to each other's powers and where they could still _use_ work. 

Plagg doesn't feel the need to do that. Plagg watches and feels a purr rumbling through him, and when he tries to sort out whether it's his own purr or the kid's he discovers that it's both of them.

Adrien's one of very few chosen Plagg's ever had where the purring _is_ frequently the kid. Plagg's traits transfer to humans much more easily than Tikki's do, but with Adrien they'd integrated far faster than Plagg's used to. Plagg's pretty sure that even if he were taken from Adrien now and the kid never saw him again, he would still be much more cat than he was before.

Plagg is also _very_ sure that nothing is _going_ to take him from Adrien. Plagg will _make_ sure of that himself.

Plagg did not appreciate Feast.

Plagg is having a certain level of difficulty feeling much beyond bitter relief over the loss of Fu as a Guardian.

Watching the screen right now, Plagg finds he can't totally blame Adrien for studying the fight. Alya had managed some really good video from it, too. Plagg's kids- _his and Tikki's_ kids aren't the only ones getting better by leaps and bounds, adjusting to Hawkmoth's Paris with more ease than they probably should. 

It's not hurting that Alya's eyes sometimes dart like Trixx's do, that Nino's first instinct now is to find something-anything-the-nearest-thing to use as a shield (trash can lids are a frequent choice but there was at least one memorable adrenalin-fuelled instance with a picnic table), or that even Sass and Fluff and Longg's kids- _chosen_ have started taking on attributes. 

(It's been _centuries_ since they'd found so many well-suited chosen at once. It's been longer).

( ... Plagg still isn't sure what Pollen is going to _do)._

Watching his and Tikki's kids use each other's gifts always gives rise to a weird sort of pride, because Plagg isn't feeling that pride for just himself or even just for Adrien. It's pride in the way Marinette syncs so easily with the Black Cat's powers, the way Adrien takes on Ladybug's without half the problems he'd glumly told Plagg he'd had, even the way the two of them shift their banter with Marinette feeling less pressure and more freedom to _initiate_ banter. 

If these kids weren't their- weren't these kids, Plagg might even have suggested switching more often. 

He's not gonna, not with Adrien, but the kids' partnership still shines so bright that he thinks they'd have no trouble learning each other's Miraculous. 

If Plagg were willing to give his kid up, anyway. 

But he's jealous, and possessive, and maybe more than a little paranoid, and when he thinks about how he won't give up Adrien for _anyone-_

For the very first time in a very long forever, that _anyone_ includes Tikki. 

Plagg's not gonna admit how terrifying that realisation was. He can't tell Tikki, but that doesn't mean Tikki won't know. Sooner or later Tikki's going to know. 

Either because she'll see it, or because for all that she's going about it far slower Plagg can see the way she's going to get just as attached to Marinette. Marinette has a whole support network beyond Tikki, so it's nothing like the speed that Adrien and Plagg bonded at, but Plagg can still see it happening.

Tikki will deny that, if he asks. Plagg will deny it a lot _more_ so he doesn't ask.

He's also not going to ask because he likes Marinette a lot more than he thinks Tikki likes Adrien, and Plagg deeply resents that. 

Because Adrien is his in a way none of his other chosen have been. 

(And Marinette is _hers,_ but that's something Tikki has to figure out for herself).

Plagg meant it when he told the kid that he's the best Black Cat he's ever had. He's not too sure that Adrien believes him, but he definitely meant it. Means it. 

Plagg can't say it very often but that doesn't mean he doesn't mean it.

Now Fu is gone and Marinette is not like Fu. Marinette is far more clever than her old master had ever been; she's never thought twice about paying attention to Plagg and Tikki, even when the old man had deliberately undermined Plagg (the dinosaurs had not been his fault, damn it). Marinette's even less like the older monks, the ones that Plagg still thinks Fu would have wound up running from one way or another. 

Feast had been an accident and a catalyst, but Plagg had seen the way Wayzz had watched Fu with consideration before that. Wayzz hadn't chosen Fu yet when the temple had fallen, because that would have been against nearly all the rules and those old monks had actually _enforced_ their rules, but Plagg has wondered for a long time if Wayzz would have otherwise. 

If Wayzz would have found it easier to sway his last chosen to their side instead, if he'd chosen earlier, if Fu hadn't been too weighed down by his guilt and terror after. They'd never found Fu's old family, and the monk's rules were all he had left _of_ the monks, and Fu had been even younger than Adrien and Marinette are now. Plagg doesn't _like_ that Fu had never questioned those rules anywhere near deeply enough but he sort of _understands_ it.

And Fu had taken the Turtle Miraculous, each and every time, and had never again touched any of the others.

Had never touched Plagg's rings or Tikki's earrings, even though he would have been more powerful with them. Had never appeared to even consider switching Miraculous, even when he'd first realised that Hawkmoth had to be fought. Fu had used Duusu exactly once, and then Wayzz every time after, and as far as Plagg knows none of those old dead monks had ever told Fu to do that. He doesn't think that even _Wayzz_ had told him to do that. 

( ... Plagg's still relieved when he sees the way the kid's best friend greets the turtle kwami, though. Fu might have been Wayzz's first actual chosen in a very long time, but Plagg's still not sure that Fu had ever truly been his _friend).  
_

Plagg still hadn't wanted Adrien around Fu. 

He still hadn't told Adrien where to find him, or told Marinette about the way Fu didn't show up for the promised lessons, and although Plagg might admit to her one day that he'd never _wanted_ Adrien to learn from Fu he doesn't think he's ever going to want to tell her why. Marinette _is_ clever. She can probably figure it out for herself.

Adrien pauses the video again. The sigh this time _is_ a little lovestruck. 

Alya hadn't gotten close enough for audio. That doesn't mean that Adrien doesn't remember every word his partner said. 

Kid always remembers every word his partner says to him.

It'd be endearing if it wasn't so worrying. 

Adrien rewinds again, hits play again, and pauses again slightly further in. When Plagg darts a glance down, the kid is grinning fondly at the screen. 

"What, you missing Tikki now?" Plagg asks him snidely. It's mostly a joke. Mostly. Adrien is Plagg's chosen and Tikki can't have him, but it'd be different if the kid decided he _preferred_ Tikki. Which. He won't. Of course he won't. 

Kinda like he'd never take off his ring. Plagg's ring. 

Adrien's sudden confused frown is reflected in the paused video, a weird superimposed image over the sleek lines of his partner's borrowed costume. "What?" 

The honest bafflement in his voice is immediately gratifying. Plagg darts into the air so that Adrien can see him without relying on a reflection. "You _did_ like bein' Ladybug for a while there, kid. I mean, this is still your favourite video." 

"Yeah, but-" Adrien's frown deepens, then turns worried. "Did you- Was she-" He swallows, and his eyes seem to flinch away from Plagg's own. " ... would _you_ rather have Ladybug? Instead of me?" 

His voice is so small that Plagg's down and into his shirt in a flash, tucked against the kid's heart the way he generally is during the day but that neither of them ever brings up. For different reasons, Plagg's always thought, but maybe not. 

The kid's stopped purring. Plagg purrs until he starts again. 

Plagg doesn't like admitting his feelings out loud. He doesn't much like admitting to having them. He's had less-than-great experiences with doing so in the past. 

But so has Adrien, and it's never stopped him or even slowed him down, and Plagg knows the kid well enough to know that if he _doesn't_ say something Adrien will only keep silent and wonder forever. Plagg doesn't like saying it, but Adrien needs to hear it. 

"Never, Adrien. You're still the Chat Noir I want." _You're the_ only _Chat Noir I want, kid,_ Plagg bites back, and tries hard to ignore the cold certainty that creeps in around the edges of the thought. 

And tries not to notice how much Adrien brightens at the words _I want._

(It's so nice to be _wanted)._

**Author's Note:**

> titles from voltaires when you're evil! 
> 
> plagg is a very biased narrator its very fun 
> 
> ... i THINK i caught all of the weird time slip that was happening in this originally, where it was somehow both directly after reflekdoll and _also_ sometime after miracle queen. bc my brain now just refuses to comprehend how time works apparently


End file.
